Executive Movie Producer Salary
Movie producer roles vary depending on the size, budget and general requirements of the production. Executive producers "make the money happen" through financing or bridging the appropriate relationships needed to execute the film. Salaries of executive producers typically correlate to their experience level and the amount of resources they offer to the production.
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Role
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The executive producer gets the resources needed to make a movie. "An executive producer often owns the rights to a book or story idea or secures at least 25 percent of the film's budget," explains Slate Magazine. This means the executive producer secures writers, investors or studio connections to get a story greenlit. When a movie receives a "greenlight" it means it is fully financed and production can move forward. Executive producers employed by studios rarely have creative input on the movie making process beyond this role and are paid on salary for services rendered. Independent producers can be paid a number of different ways.
Administrative Fees
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Independent executive producers with a production company may charge a percentage of up to 20 percent of the total production budget in administrative fees back to the production. These costs are written into the film's budget so that the executive producers receive the commission once the film is fully financed. If the executive producer does not have a company, he or she may charge up to 10 percent of the total production cost. The larger the production budget, the smaller the percentage the producer takes. This is to avoid exorbitant costs in administrative fees.
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Resources
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If a studio contracts an executive producer, he or she is usually paid in accordance with the relationships and experience added to the production. For example, an executive producer may have a relationship with a writer that can get the studio a discount on the rights to the script. Producers with a history of award winning projects are "worth" more to the production and are paid higher salaries than other producers.
Salary
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The most successful executive producers can earn up to the millions in salary each year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the average national salary of a movie producer for the motion picture and video industries was $108,580 per year in 2009. Independent executive producers fall on the lower end of the spectrum as projects are usually farther apart than that of a producer contracted or employed by a film studio.
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